When Was the Cell Theory Accepted by the Scientific Community?

Most of us today know and understand that cells are the basic building blocks of life, but when was the cell theory accepted by the scientific community?

The cell theory came to be over a period of time and several advancements in the field; however, it was fully accepted by the scientific community after its completion in 1858.

Progression of the Cell Theory

Looking at how the cell theory came into being is crucial to understand the scientific community's acceptance of it, since different pieces of the theory were discovered at different times. Robert Hooke first discovered the cell in 1665, when he was observing a piece of cork through a microscope. He named the cells after the honeycomb structure that they resembled. While he found them, he did not know much about them, such as their structure and function.

Nine years later, Antony van Leeuwenhoek was the first person to observe a live cell under a microscope. Later, Ludolph Christian Treviranus and Johann Jacob Paul Moldenhawer announced that cells could be separated into individual units. Henri Dutrochet announced that "The cell is the fundamental element of organization."

Between 1839 and 1858, Theodor Schwann, Matthias Jacob Schleiden, and Rudolf Virchow put together the cell theory that we know today. The first two established that cells are the building blocks of life and that everything is made of cells. Virchow finished off the theory when he said that all cells come from other cells, which rounded off the theory.

Clearly, a progression was involved in the building of the cell theory. As each piece came into being, the cell theory was accepted by the scientific community.